No Happy Ending for Cinderella
by fiesa
Summary: She was not sure whether she wanted to sew the shoe company or the architects of the building as she looked down on what once had been quite expensive high-heels. One Shot.


_Hi! There definitely has been a CC- fan fiction missing in my postings lately^^ I`m slowly reaching the point in which I have to translate my German ones because I used all my English ones... _

_I hope you like this one._

_Set sometime after... Hmm, I don´t know, did Scotty really once have a girlfriend named Alex? I seem to remember one, but I´m not sure. So set around one time, no spoilers for nothin´.  
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_Disclaimer: I own a chocolate-bunny with a little pocket watch my sister gave me for my birthday. It included a ticket for "Alice in Wonderland"... Yeah! But--- I don´t own Cold Case.  
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Cold Case – Summer. No Happy End for Cinderella

There were only few things Lilly Rush looked forward to with such mixed feelings as she looked forward to the summer-night`s ball of the Philadelphia Police every summer.  
But as it was custom in life, things one expected with a sense of apprehension always came faster than one expected – or hoped – them to arrive. And it was impossible to try to avoid them.

"You look beautiful, Lil", John Stillman greeted her with his typical reserve while the look in his eyes told her he really believed what he said. When she stepped closer, he offered her his arm in a perfectly gentleman style and lead her into the ballroom.  
"Thanks", she answered. The mirrors in the foyer, lit by the bright lights of many chandeliers, reflected her image: a tall, slender woman wearing a dark-blue dress gown, a shawl draped around her shoulders and a simple, almost invisible necklace around her neck. She`d put her hair up in a fairly simple bun just to keep from tickling her bare shoulders.  
"Hey, Lil!", Kat Miller, her colleague and friend, called over from where she stood with another colleague, Nick Vera.

"I told you not to wear heels that high! Nobody will ask you for a dance if even an averagely grown man can`t see you eye to eye!"

"Envy`s speaking", Nick murmured into his collar and caught a particularly mean hit into his ribs as Kat employed her elbows. Lil smiled.

"Hey, Kat", she answered and pretended to ignore Nick wincing in pain. "You look great!"

"Thanks", came her flattered reply.

She had every reason to be. The dress she wore fitted her extraordinarily well. The contrast between her chocolate-brown skin and the silvery white dress was stunning. Her eyes were shining as bright as the candles around them. When John and she passed her friend, Kat followed them, Nick and Will in her tow.

Silent music surrounded them.

John led her to a relatively empty space at the southern wall, directly in front of a huge glass window which opened the view onto a big balcony lit by only four or five torches. From where she stood, she caught a look on Scotty, standing at the opposite wall next to a tall brunette in a stunningly red dress gown. The woman was holding a glass of champagne, talking to someone she Lil didn`t know, while Scotty seemed to feel at least a little bit awkward as he shuffled from one foot to another. What had been her name? Alexandra-Something, the district attorney. While John slipped away quickly to find something to drink, Kat followed her gaze and shrugged as she saw Scotty standing there, surrounded by lawyers and attorneys. "Serves him right", she said. Lil arched an eye-brow and she shrugged again. "It`s his fault he feels lost when he brings his girlfriends", she told Lil and turned away. Will and Nick ignored their younger colleague and Lil felt a pang of pity for him. After all, it wasn`t his fault Alexandra preferred talking to her kind than rather come over and talk to them… But she suppressed the thought.

„It`s already starting", a voice said next to her and she turned to see John standing there, offering her his hand. "Would you grant me the pleasure?"

Waltz.

Traditional, quick, done a thousand times. Not the least bit dangerous – as long as you had a partner who had some experience and led well. And Lil didn`t need to worry about that. John asked for her hand in dance every year when it came to the opening waltz. Why he did it she had no idea, but she was glad he did it. He was a good dancer. He was a good boss. He was a close friend and, had she had a father, it would have been him. She would have chosen him every time again.

The soft melody led them trough the room, passing chandeliers, pillars, mirrors and faces, blurring them together into sounds and colors. It would be her last dance. Every summer, the opening waltz had been her first and last dance.

Like every summer, Lil had taken up to enjoy the ball. It couldn`t be that difficult. Like every summer she already had to face the fact that, after the last notes of the music died away, she found herself in a remote corner of the ballroom, holding a glass of champagne. The waltz had ended as abruptly as it had started. Even so, the few seconds John still held her hands were precious. He bowed his head towards her, a gesture of thanks as well as of honoring, and she smiled back and bowed formally, too.

John smiled at her and started to say something when a small and a bit roundish woman stepped towards them and looked at him somewhat nervously.

"Erika"; John said, surprise and pleasure coloring his voice. "Lil – may I introduce you to Erica Newton?"

He smiled at the woman genuinely. She looked nice, Lil concluded. Because John didn`t seem bothered talking to the woman, she didn`t mind slipping away quietly.

"Please excuse me", she said, smiled one more time and disappeared in the midst of the crowd of people in the room. Somehow, smiling was easy today. She didn`t have to force it unto her face like she sometimes had to. She still had the feeling she wouldn`t feel like smiling at one point of the ball, but at the moment, she didn`t care.

* * *

The great doors of the balcony were open a little bit.

Normally, the smokers would stand there, smoking and arguing, but today, it was empty. Carefully she slid out of the light of the ballroom into the dim night. The torches flickered in the evening breeze. The cool night air caressed her face as she stepped into the night. It was warm – summer – and dark. Her eyes, adjusted to the bright light of the room, needed a few seconds to adjust to the darkness surrounding her.

Carefully, she stepped forward and almost cursed as she felt her foot missing a small step in the ground. She almost twisted her ankle as her right high-heel gave up and broke.

Damn!

She wasn`t sure whether she wanted to sew the company who sold her shoes or the architects of the building as she looked down on what once had been quite expensive high-heels. Well, at least she wouldn`t be doing any more dancing anyway, she told herself amused. Resolutely, she bend down and pulled off the other shoe as well. The stone floor still was warm. Carefully watching her steps now, she continued to walk forwards until she reached the balustrade of the balcony. The moon hung in the sky like an unfinished pearl. Quietly, music came reached her ears. Hopefully, no one would think of coming out here, hopefully, she would be alone a little longer, being able to enjoy the silence and the peace of…

„Lil?", a voice came from the door to the room, quiet and questioning. Almost surprised, she swirled around. „Yes?"

The person standing in the door was a black shadow towards the bright lights of the ballroom. But it didn`t matter. She had recognized him already.

"Here you are", Scott Valens said and crossed the balcony to come to stand next to her. "You`ve certainly found a nice spot."

She nodded quietly in agreement. Then she looked at him closely. "Has something happened?"

Her partner smiled crookedly and shook his head.  
"I just was wondering where you disappeared to so suddenly", he answered. "I saw you leaving, so I figured I could follow you and talk to you. You`re the only one who`s not giving me the silent treatment for bringing Alex here."

Lil shrugged.  
„It`s your decision. I don`t mind her being here. It`s not as if she was the only attorney on a police fundraiser."

„Alex doesn`t like fundraisers or balls", he said with a pained face. "She`s bored to hell. But at least, she found some lawyers to talk to. They`re in their own world. I don`t understand every second word."

"That`s what lawyers are", she told him. What else could she have said? She wasn`t the one having a relationship with a district attorney. She wasn`t responsible for her partner`s relationships.

For some time, they just stood there, next to each other, and gazed into the dark night. The soft sound of music washed over them. Suddenly, abruptly, Scotty turned to her. Lil couldn`t see his face clearly because he was standing in front of a torch. The words just seemed to pour out of him but she was pretty sure it wasn´t because he had been wanting to ask her the question the whole time.  
"Would you like to dance?"

Lil held up her shoes so he could see the broken heel.

"I fear I`m handicapped."

Scotty`s face lit up in a genuine smile.

"Well, at least you won`t be taller than me."

"You`ll step on my feet."

"No gentleman ever steps on a lady`s feet."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Gently, he took her hand and pulled her close, positioning his other hand on her hip and her hand on his shoulder. Then, he took her other hand and started to move.

The music was soft and slow and Lil found herself following him, dancing slowly, moving to a rhythm the music and Scotty dictated and which swirled around her seductively.

Almost possessively, Scotty pulled her closer, held her tighter, and she laid her head onto his shoulder, smiling softly. He smelled good.

She smiled.

„Scotty? Scotty?"

He didn`t let go of her quickly, didn`t release her the second a voice called out his name. It was a male one and Lil wondered shortly if he had reacted that way if it had been Alexandra calling him. But so, he let go of her slowly, unwillingly, and with gestures she could only describe as tenderly even though she didn`t know why.

"There you are! Alexandra has been looking for you all the time!"

Lil was quite sure Alexandra had been able to entertain herself quite well, but her partner stepped away from her guiltily, his expression apologetic. She made another step back. She didn`t care if anyone saw her unclad feet.

"I`m sorry", he murmured softly. "Would you…"  
"I don`t mind", she interrupted him and waved towards the lit ballroom. „Go, Scotty. I`m not a little girl. I`ll be good."

With a last glance at her, his expression unreadable, he disappeared into the bright lights of the ballroom. Lil watched as he entered the room and Alexandra came dashing towards him, grabbing his arm and placing a kiss on his cheek. She didn`t pity him. And she wasn`t angry with him. How could she have been – it was Scotty she was thinking about.

She watched him disappear into the crowd, following his sense of duty and obligation.

The stone floor was comfortably warm under her feet.

* * *

_It´s what Lil is like, I think. _


End file.
